BONUS ACTIVITY: Flip Flop Tower. We did not put this one into the book CUP IT UP, so it's a perfect bonus and teaser to demonstrate the power of team building with cups. You'll notice in the picture above the group is using Speed Stack Cups (if you have them the different colors make for a great visual). In the picture below the group is using the red Solo brand cups. They both work great.

Needs & Numbers: For every group of 2 to 5 participants you'll need 36 cups (as noted above, Speed Stack or Solo cups work great). You will also need a solid surface, at ground level, to build from. A wind-free environment is also a good idea if you are not working on objectives like frustration or anger management!

Procedure: I've been using this activity a lot lately - since I just developed it about a month ago - at the beginning of a program as an energizing team-builder with a little tension. It doesn't take long to present and play, the directions are simple, and it provides a nice starting point to talk about the types of activities a group will be going through during their program.

No matter the size of your group (so far my biggest group has been 50), divide them up into small groups of 2 to 5 participants (with my group of 50 I had 10 groups of 5) - you'll need 36 cups for every small group. Ask each small group to find some space in the activity area to build their tower. After everyone is settled into their spots, provide the challenge. ​

The Objective Using only the 36 cups you have in your possession, build the tallest free-standing tower in 60 seconds.

Rules for Building:

One individual cup is added to the tower structure at a time. (Note: Each group is building only one tower structure.)

Each person in the group must add one cup to the tower structure before anyone adds in a second cup to the structure. Then, everyone must add a second cup to the structure before anyone can add a third, and so on until the time is up. (Note: the order of turns can change during each round of turns.)

​When the horn blows (whistle sounds or "STOP" is called), all hands must be off of the tower structure. What remains standing will be counted for a score.

Scoring:
​Tower structures are scored by number of rows. Rows consist of one or more individual cups - nested cups, one, or more, inside of another, will not count as a row. (Note: The score for the red Solo cup tower is 16 (rows).

Once the groups understand the challenge I let them know they will have three attempts to build the tallest tower possible. I then give them three minutes to plan and practice before the first attempt.

Here's what I tell everyone before I start each attempt - "Your first row can be set up and ready to go. The rest of your cups can either be in your hands, set down on the ground, or a combination of both. Okay, is everybody ready? Set! Go!"

After 60 seconds, giving the groups continuous updates on the time remaining, call a hard STOP (e.g., horn, whistle, or yell it out). After the dust settles, have the groups count their number of rows still standing - the number of rows is their score for the first attempt. Tell the groups to remember their score. Then, give everyone two minutes to plan and practice for the second attempt. Encourage the groups to try and "better their score."

After the second round, each group makes a note of their score. Then, give everyone one minute to plan and practice for the third and final round. Have them note their score for the third round. After all three attempts take some time to focus on one or more of the discussion points (suggestions) below based on your group's objectives for their program.

Discussion Points:

Planning - What did this look like over the three attempts?

Strategies - What strategies did you plan on and did they change? Why?

Failure - If your structure did fall, what did you do?

​Success - How did you measure your success? Were you successful?

Risk Taking - What risks did you take? What risks did you avoid? Why?

Collaboration - Did any collaboration take place? Was it "secret" or "open" collaboration?

National Standard and World Record
As of the date of this post, the national average of rows in 60 seconds, for the adult (18 years old and older) bracket is 17 rows. The world record, adult bracket, is 20.

Video Here's video of a group using Speed Stack cups. I only included two rounds to keep the video short - you'll get the idea. Note: Notice the tower in the first round is higher (for a moment) than the one the group builds in the second round - watch the behavior in the last few seconds of the second round!! Great stuff!

I've also been setting up Flip Flop with "expectations" - GO HERE for details on how expectations work - detailed write-up of Flip Flip Tower.

Last December I posted my first Jumbo Bananagrams activity - Word Building. These big flexible vinyl letters are simply great for tons of FUN. You can find your set on Amazon HERE.

Recently I made up another team building word game - 3 Down - with the Jumbo letters that has some great potential. I've only tried it a couple of times so I could use some help working out the details. Here's what I have up to now:

Set UpLay out all the letters, facing up, on a couple of tables (see first picture) or on the floor – this will be the “pool” of letters. Leave enough room in the activity area for the “word board” – where the words are built. This could be a couple of rectangular tables placed together to form a large square or simply play the words on the floor near the pool (see second picture).

So far I have played 3 Down with groups of 6 & 14 participants divided into pairs. (I'm sure, if you had an odd number of players you could have someone without a partner playing by the same rules in each round without talking with a partner - read on.)
​Pick Letters
Here's my thinking as I look ahead to playing more of 3 Down. If you have 6 to 8 participants in your group each player will take four letters from the pool and maybe you add a Round 6, same Round Rules as Round 5 (see below).

If you have 10 to 14 participants, each player gets three letters.

Procedure
Explain the objective of the activity before each participant picks up three (or four) letters from the pool.

Objective
Each participant is required to place all of his or her letters down into a word puzzle by or before the fifth round of play. The word puzzle will be a "scrabble-like" configuration. Letters are spelled left to right or top to bottom (see the second and third pictures). All words must be connected to at least one other word when the puzzle is complete.

Pair up your participants (either in some sort of creative way or purposeful pairing).

NOTE: I designed this activity before working with a "couples" groups - couples that have been married for less than a year. They were lead by a mentor couple that had been married for 11 years. Lots of great talking points about "marriage" bubbled to the surface.

All participants will be standing (or sitting) together in a circle formation. Each participant is required to be standing next to his/her designated partner. When the circle pairing is set, have everyone go over to the pool of letters to pick up what they want (without discussion their choices with anyone) and then return to the circle formation (each player standing next to his/her partner). You might consider setting a time limit for picking up letters?

The game is played in a series of Rounds - five or six depending on the number of letters you allow everyone to pick up (the more letters the more rounds). In each Round each participant/player gets one turn to make one of the Possible Moves (even if he/she is not holding a letter).

Overall Round Rules:

Participants can ONLY do the things stated in each round.

Each participant can only make ONE of the Possible Moves listed in each round.

Participants may not change places with ANYONE in the circle unless otherwise stated in the Round Rules.

When a letter is placed into the word puzzle it must be touching another letter (at the corner or along a side) in the puzzle – a letter cannot be “floating” by itself on the word board.

After the Round Rules are explained the time, designated for each round, will start. Rollover minutes will/can apply (you decide) – what is not use in one round will/can be added to the next round.

Validating Words:
Words will "grow" as players take turns adding letters. You'll need to decide how you will evaluate valid words. If you are a "Scrabbler" you can play by Scrabble rules - you may need to explain these to your group. You could also make up your own guidelines for valid words. I use a the smartphone app WordBook. I tell my group, "If I can find the words you create on my app they will count as valid words." (NOTE: One of the two groups so far did ask me during play if certain words would be valid - they used me, and the app, as a resource during their process. Good stuff!)

ROUND RULES

Round 1 (5 minutes)

You and your partner are the only ones who can see/know what letters you are holding.

Possible Moves

Put down one letter.

Pass. (Do nothing.)

Round 2 (10 minutes)

Before anyone plays a letter in this round anyone can exchange one of the letters they are holding for a letter in the pool.

You and your partner are the only ones who can see/know what letters you are holding.

Possible Moves

Put down one letter.

Pass. (Do nothing.)

Round 3 (10 minutes)

Before anyone plays a letter in this round one person from each pair can exchange one of the letters he/she is holding for a letter in the pool.

You and your partner are the only ones who can see/know what letters you are holding.

Possible Moves

Put down one letter.

Replace one of the letters you are holding for one letter in the word puzzle (your letter goes in the place of the one you pick up).

Move one letter in the word puzzle to another location in the word puzzle.

Pass. (Do nothing.)

Round 4 (10 minutes)

Before anyone plays a letter in this round four people can exchange one of the letters he/she is holding for a letter in the pool.

You can show (and tell) your letters to anyone in the group.

Possible Moves

Put down one letter.

Pick up one letter from the word puzzle.

Replace one of the letters you are holding for one letter in the word puzzle.

Move one letter in the word puzzle to another location in the word puzzle.

Pass. (Do nothing.)

Round 5 (5 minutes)

Before anyone plays a letter in this round you can move (just once) to a new location in the circle – you don’t have to be standing next to your partner.

You can show (and tell) your letters to anyone in the group.

Possible Moves

Put down one letter.

Move one letter in the word puzzle to another location in the word puzzle.

Pass. (Do nothing.)

Here's a printable copy (to the right) of the Round Rules if you want something to read from - or cut the Rules apart and hand out each set of Round Rules as needed so the group can manage the requirements.

Observations/Questions
Here are a few observation points and related questions I've used after the two times I presented 3 Down:

What did you notice about the communication during the activity as the Rounds progressed?

Even though you could not share your letters with anyone other than your partner in the first few rounds, what did you do to communicate your thinking with the rest of the group?

How many of you believed you could not talk with anyone else other than your partner? When did you decide you could talk to the others in the group?

As the "possible moves" changed for each round, how did the activity change?

When did you find the activity to be the most challenging? What were the challenges?

When did you find the activity to be easier? What made it easier for you?

As you all moved through the Rounds what "rules" did you create for yourself that were not actually rules of the game? (These are called phantom rules.) How did these rules effect your progress?

Were you successful after the designated number of Rounds? If so, what behaviors did you notice (things you could see and hear) that were helpful to your success? If you were not successful, what prevented your success? In other words, what was done or said that prevented your potential success?

What is the most important lesson you can take from this experience?

Okay team builders, give this one a try. Ask me questions if you need clarification. Call me up if you want to talk about 3 Down. Let's get some more Beta Testing going on this one to see if any changes are needed. THANKS!!

All the best,

Chris Cavert, Ed.D.
928-221-7874

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Blog Author

Dr. Chris Cavert is an internationally known author, speaker, and trainer in the area of adventure-based activity programming and its relation to community and pro-social behavior development.

Blog Purpose

This blog is a space for hands-on programable fun - energetic activities and ideas that can be used as a means to bring people together; activities and ideas we as educators can add to our social development curriculums.